Next year, not only will Sean Penn and Josh Brolin go toe to toe in Gangster Squad, Penn will likely direct Brolin in a tale of family and survival. Penn is set to helm a film called Crazy For The Storm, based on the memoirs of Norman Ollestad and Brolin is now in talks to star.

When Ollestad was 11-years-old, he was in a plane crash that killed three people, including his father, and left him stranded on a snowy mountaintop. Using the skills his father taught him, he was able to survive and escape. Brolin would play the father. Read more about the story and movie below. Read More »

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Five years after Into the Wild, Sean Penn is finally getting ready to get back into the director’s chair. As of last fall, he was set to direct The Comedian with stars Robert De Niro and Kristen Wiig, but it looks now like his next project could instead be another inspired-by-true-events survival drama.

Penn has entered talks to help Crazy for the Storm, based on Norman Ollestad‘s memoir about his complicated relationship with his daredevil father. When Ollestad was 11, he was involved in a plane crash that killed the elder Ollestad and left the younger Ollestad stranded alone on a mountain during a blizzard. Ollestad credits his father’s teachings for helping him survive the incident.

Penn is only looking to direct the picture, not star in it. Nor will he pen the screenplay, as he has for some of his previous projects; Will Fetters, who last scripted the Zac Efron weepie The Lucky One, is already on board to adapt the story. Variety reports that Penn was always Warner Bros.’ first choice for the pic, though the studio considered a handful of other filmmakers including Alfonso Cuarón.

After the jump, Hot Tub Time Machine director Steve Pink eyes the remake of About Last Night…

Each December since 2004, studio executive Franklin Leonard has compiled the best unproduced screenplays of the year, as voted by hundreds of execs, agency guys, and high-level assistants. Titled The Black List, the compendium highlights both established screenwriters and up-and-comers, and has served as a launching pad in the past for projects like Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, and (500) Days of Summer. Last year’s list included Margin Call, Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Hunger Games, and Snow White and the Huntsman.

It should be noted that the headline is somewhat misleading — some of these screenplays have already been acquired and are already in development, though according to Leonard none will have entered principal photography by December 31, 2011. Also worth pointing out is that, as in previous years, there have been rumors that some of the participants have been accused of using the Black List to promote their own clients or friends. Finally, as Leonard reminds us each time, “The Black List is not a ‘best of’ list. It is, at best, a ‘most liked’ list.”

Regardless, we can always rely on the Black List to stir up conversation among both industry insiders and outside spectators alike, so without further ado, hit the jump for the complete 2011 list.